Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-08-04
THE WOLF.

| Monsieur D'Arville must have repeated
the story often, for he related II fiuently,
never hesitating over words skillfully
chosen for picturesque effect.
Gentlemen, he said, never hunted
| In my life. nor my father either, nor my
grandfather, nor even my great grand
father. But my great grandfather was
the son Of a man who hunted more than
all ~ you put together. He died in i164.
] am going to tell you how.
His name was Jean: he WAS married
father of the child destined TO become my
ancestor, and he lived with his younger
brother, Francois D'Arville in our old
chateau in Lorraine, which was situated
in the forest
Francois D'Arviile had remained a
bachelor for pure love of hunting
Both Of them nsed to go hunting to-
gether; they hunted from one year $ end
Ia the other, without rest, without a
pause, without ever getting tired. That
was all they liked, all they understood,
all they talked about, all they lived for
II was "A passion with both of them
terrible, memorable. 1t consumed them,
filled their entire being, left no place for
anything else
They had given orders that they were
never to he interrupted while hunting
under any preteNt whatever My ancestor
was born while his father was chasing q
fox, and Jean never thought Of stopping
his hunt on receiving the news He only
swore: Nom dun nom, the little rascal
might very well have waited till after the
DEATH
His brother Francois was a still more
furious hunter. As soon As he got up Of
a morning be would 20 to look after the
dogs and the horses; then he would shoot
birds around the chateau until time came
10 start on chase for bigger game.
The country people used to call them
the Marquis and the Junior. Both were
extraordinarily tall, bony. hairy, violent
and strong. The younger, who was still
taller Than his brother, had a voice SO
powerful that, accoraling to popular say.
ing which he was proud to hear repeated,
all the leaves Of the forest trembled when
he shouted.
And when they started OF on horseback
for the chase together it must have been a
fine sight to see the two giants bestrad-
ding their great horses.
Now, about the middle Of the winter of
1894 the cold became excessive and the
wolves grew ferocious.
They would even attack peasants going
home late; they prowled around the
houses during the night, howled from
sunset until sunrise, and depopulated the
stables.
And after a time a very ugly rumor be
gan 10 spread 1t was said that a colos-
sal gray wolf, which had eaten two chill
dren, devuured woman's arm, strangled
all h.a ~ n trb bln.ra al hsa h.x
no fear Of entering Enclosures and regu-
larly wsnt about at night smelling under
the doors All the country people de-
clared that they had felt his breath-that
il made the lights flicker And panic
seized upon the whole province. No one
dared venture out after dark. All the
shadows seemed haunted by the image Of
the beast.
The D'Arville brothers resolved to find
him and kill him, and they invited all the
gentlemen Of the country TO great hunt.
Ii was all in vain. They secured all
the forests, searched all the thickets with
out avail: they could never find him
They killed plenty Of wolves, but not that
particular wolf. And each night regu-
larly, after the hunt, the animal would
attack some belated traveller OF devOur
stiiIt HiIliittl- as II just 10 dNcHEe LlHl-
self-and this always at quite u distance
from where the last hunt had taken place.
At last one night he got into the pig
sites at the Chateau d'Arville and ds-
voured the two finest pigs
The brothers became full of rage-con-
this attack as an open defiance
on the monster part. They got all their
largest and best trained hounds together
and went TO the chase in a great fury.
From earliest dawn until the red sun
began to sink behind the naked trees they
sCourei the thickets in vain.
Al last, d appointed beyond measure
and angered in proportion, they began to
ride hGmeward at a walk along q road
bcrdered with high bushes, wondering
the while how all their science could have
been baffied by this wolf-feeling sudden
iy sort of mysterious fear.
The elder said:
That's no common animal. Seems he
thinks like man
The younger replied:
perhaps we ought to get our cousin,
the bishop, to bless bullet for us, or get
some priest to pronounce the necessary
words
They kept silence a while.
Jean spoke again:
Look how led that sun is' The wolf
is going TO do some more mischief to-
night
He had scarcely spoken when his horse
reared; that of his brother Francois be-
gan to plunge. A great bush covered
with dead leaves parted, and a huge ami
mal-all gray-leaped out and shot
through the woods.
Both men uttered something like a
growl of joy, and bending over the necks
of their powerful horses, they flung them
forward with one immense effort Of the
whole bOiy-shot them on with such q
vim-eXciting them with voice, gesture
and spur, that the strong riders actually
seemed 10 be lifting the weighty steeds
between their thighs, and flying away with
them.
On they went at full speed, crashing
through thickets, crossing ravines, seal
ing sleeps, laundering down gorges, and
blowing their horns with all the force of
their lungs to call their dogs and their
men.
And all of a sudden, during this head
long course, my ancestor struck his head
against an enormous branch, which liter
ally cleft his skull, and flung him dead on
the ground, while his terrified horse ran
away aid disappeared i'll the gathering
gloom of the woods.
The younger D'Arville at once drew
rein, leaped to the ground lifted his
brother in his arms, and he saw that the
brains We're running out OF the great
wound with the blood.
Then he sat down beside the corpse,
rested the CORY and disfgured head upon
his knees and watched there, looking at
the broihers immobile face. Gradually
a fear came upon him, singular fear
that he had never felt before-the fear OF
the darkness, the fear of the desolate for
est the fear If solitude, and also the fear
of that weird wolf which had killed his
brother by way Of avenging himself on
both of them.
The darkness thickened; the cold made
cracklings in the trees. Francois rose up
shuddeiing, unable TO remain there any
longer, feeling himself ready to faint.
Nothing could lie heard-neither the
Al. q ha